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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotos from Cohen Student Union’s ribbon-cutting celebration on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
To develop the exterior lawn, FGCU worked with a longtime construction management partner, Owen-Ames-Kimball (OAK). The school has worked with OAK since 2008, managing the construction of nine buildings on campus, starting with Lutgert Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a challenge whenever you have to build on an occupied campus, when our team has been phenomenal with making sure that all the students could see the progress that was [happening], but not disrupt them throughout the whole process,\u201d said Cory O\u2019Donnell, the Marketing Manager for OAK. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of the fact that we delivered it a month ahead of schedule.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two FGCU alumni serve on the company\u2019s major project team, which consists of the project manager and the assistant project manager.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The assistant project manager] actually graduated while this was happening, so he got to see it as a student, and then he got to be a part of it for the last for this first part of his career,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell. \u201cThe students teach us just as much as we teach them, and, and just having that pride and that passion for the university makes a huge difference. It helps you get up and go to work every day and want to create a better environment for the students moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior project manager for FGCU Physical Plant, Miguel Rodriguez, supervises and manages the scope, schedule and budget for the remodeling project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking in partnership with Student Government, our two main priorities were to create a space that could be programmed year\u2011round regardless of weather and to ensure the area was fully ADA\u2011accessible for students, faculty and staff,\u201d said Rodriguez-Aquino. \u201cAstroturf best supported both of those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students who have used the lawn since the opening have had mixed reactions to the new installation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be hot because there\u2019s no shade,\u201d said junior Christian Del Pilar. \u201cIt\u2019s nice, but no one will use them if the sun is going to be burning people to a crisp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astroturf and other artificial grasses have been documented multiple times by researchers and scientists to retain significantly more heat than natural grass, with temperatures trending higher by around 30\u00b0F-60\u00b0F. Athletes playing on turf also have a higher risk of sustaining \u201cturf burns\u201d from extended playtime on the surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were advertised as an environmentally friendly college and yet we have fake grass,\u201d said sophomore Samantha Doucet. \u201cThey ripped out everything natural for plastic just because it looks better. It\u2019s a nice place for people to relax and do work while enjoying the fresh air, but they can do that on natural grass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plans to improve the courtyard space are currently planned out with additional technology, sound systems and seating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are especially grateful for the involvement of Student Government, whose advocacy played a major role in shaping and supporting the courtyard renovation,\u201d said Rodriguez-Aquino.<\/p>\n
The third and final phase of the Cohen refurbishment will continue the renovation of the building\u2019s interior, and impact the second-floor ballrooms, conference rooms, Student Life spaces, the Fishbowl and the Dean\u2019s Suite.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that this lawn becomes one of those places for all of you, a place where students from every background and every major can come together and feel that they belong here at FGCU,\u201d said Ihuoma. \u201cThank you for believing in the importance of investment in our students, and to the students who will fill the space every day, this lawn is for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After nearly three years, construction on the Cohen Student Union remodel has finished. FGCU President Aysegul Timur, along…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-208717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}